Author: tinafriesen

  • NaNoWrMo

    I’ve heard about it. National November Writing Month. Write a novel in a month. Here is a synopsis from the NaNoWrMo website: NaNoWriMo is all about using the magical power of deadlines to tell your story. Give someone a goal and a goal-minded community and miracles are bound to happen.…

  • A look at blog titles and focus

    Michael Hyatt just drew my attention to a couple of important issues for bloggers in his articles, Why I Stopped Reading Your Blogs, and Do You Make These 10 Mistakes When You Blog? Two things that stood out for me relating to blogging were the importance of catchy headlines, and…

  • My story is featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul

    My story, “The Perfect Coffee Table,” is featured in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Devotional Stories for Wives. Get your copy at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Good Reads. Please share your thoughts when you read it. I’d love to hear from you.

  • Will your voice sink or swim?

    OK, enough about me and my journey. Time to get back to what I love to write about. I love sharing my discoveries about writing with my readers. I am excited because I just read an article in the September 2013 issue of Writer’s Digest that has been particularly insightful…

  • Why I have not been writing as much

    From the perspective of the successful author, no reason is valid for not writing, short of being comatose or having both arms in a cast and my mouth wired shut. But for anyone who would like to hear about my process, here it is. For awhile I was writing five…

  • OCW Conference

    I promised to report on my experience at the OCW Conference. Initially the goal was to find an editor who would want my novel. As the date approached I saw that I would not complete editing my novel in time. I did a lot of the hard work, as I…

  • Writing Update

    I am two and a half weeks away from the Oregon Christian Writers’ Conference. Last year when I went to the conference for the first time–my first ever writers’ conference–I submitted my novel to an editor who said it was too “edgy” and “not suitable” for the publishing house she…

  • I’m back…not really

    Last year I took my novel to a writers conference and had several authors, agents and editors look at it. One agent even asked me to submit my manuscript but I knew in my heart it wasn’t ready. This was confirmed by author friends of mine who have been kind…

  • Old Guy And A Bucket Of Shrimp

    Originally posted on Morning Story and Dilbert: Vintage DilbertMay 29, 2002 It happened every Friday evening, almost without fail, when the sun resembled a giant orange and was starting to dip into the blue ocean. Old Ed came strolling along the beach to his favorite pier. Clutched in his bony hand was a…

  • Are you reading Writer’s Digest?

    I noticed today that I can drop $40 on two books with scarcely a thought, but I’ll spend considerable time deliberating over the purchase of a blouse for $39.99. Needless to say, my closet looks a little bare and my bookshelves are overflowing. My reading is mostly about curiosity and…